Microphone position. Does the distance matter?

Aleksooo7

Hey. I’ve been experimenting with the mic placement and found out that to get the sound I really want (low-chest overtones) I have to have a certain distance.

My guitar player on the other hand complains that as I move the microphone away from me the sound becomes barely audible. So he says I have to sing right in the mic.

But I hate the sound of my tone when I’m singing that close.


I’ve been checking how my favourite singers deal with this kind of stuff. And I saw that most of them, especially when they belt they tend to move the mic away.

Attaching the video of David Coverdale singing.
https://youtu.be/Xlyjs2PSLhM

Wigs

This can be very complicated to answer because it depends alot on equipment and the room you sing in.

Generally the further away from a mic you sing, the more gain the mic needs to pick up your voice and the more of the rooms sound you capture.

The closer you sing the less gain and more chest and possible plosives it captures as well as those chest over tones and less of the room. There's also a proximity effect where you can sound a bit boomy and varying your distance from the mic can have a more pronounced effect. You'll either have to sing in a more controlled chest voice up close without raising your volume much, or increase the volume as you pull back.

I've seen that clip, I don't know if they have a live compressor back then to help normalise the volume. The type of mic also matters because of its pick up pattern, some are only meant to pick up very close to prevent leakage from other instruments.

Dewy69

Agree with Wigs....and just some more comment ..... Distance doesnt matter too much as it can be EQ'd to make up for any position. I have always been told by sound guys to stay closer to a vocal mic (SM58 for example, not a condenser style), and only back off a little when your volume increases. But even that can usually be dealt with if there is proper compression set up on the channel...which many do. If you are in your own space, as in recording in your studio/practice area, then it distance doesnt matter if you are getting the sound you want.